Oral History

The story of the hostile environment, told entirely by its victims

Through our advocacy work, we have come to understand that there is a shared Windrush experience of the hostile environment.  

We think there is a pressing need for a body of knowledge documenting the impact of law and policy on Windrush migrants and their descendants - a record of the cost of the hostile environment to them. 

The Oral History Project has two objectives: 

First, to serve as validation for victims. Most Windrush victims have been made to think they were or are in some way responsible for what happened to them - for example, because of their failure, as an individual, to obtain or retain certain documents. The truth is that the same end-effects - deprivation of status, deportation, refusal of re-entry - were rationalised in differing ways to different people, in pursuit of policy goals and political rhetoric on migration. We hope that consolidating their accounts can help show victims that it wasn’t their fault.

Second, to sound a warning about the hostile environment. The human cost of the Windrush scandal is enormous, but it isn’t always easy to describe or understand. There is also a tendency to focus on the most extreme stories, or on particularly ‘worthy’ subjects, rather than looking at the deeper, underlying structural problems. We want to pull as many stories as we can together in one place to make it easier to see the bones of a system that, left unchecked, will continue to destroy lives.

To do this, we need volunteers to interview and transcribe the stories of victims. If you have an academic or professional background in history, or even just a particular interest in this subject, and would like to help, send us a message.

If you’ve already been in touch, hang tight - we’ll get back to you soon!